


Slayer Style

by Fallen_Ark_Angel



Series: Remember Me [27]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-18
Updated: 2015-07-18
Packaged: 2018-04-09 22:49:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4367252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fallen_Ark_Angel/pseuds/Fallen_Ark_Angel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When problems invade Natsu's world, there's only one way to combat them; slayer style. Or ice cream. Either works, he's found.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slayer Style

  


Natsu never thought that there would be a problem. Honest, he didn't. Which, I he said that to Lucy, he was sure that she would have just told him that he never thought about the problems that might spring up in situations. And se would be correct. He didn't. He lived in a nice little world where things never went wrong and always turned out okay. When that world was breeched by disaster, he quickly quelled whatever the problem was before getting back to his happy, simple life. Slayer style.

He found out very quickly though that the introduction of two new little tiny humans into that life would not be as simple as he thought.

"How," he grumbled to Lucy a few times, "could I have forgotten how much babies stink?"

"Considering you forget at times where we live-"

"Once. It happened once and you never let me live it down."

That wasn't the only problem that the new babies presented, however. There was a multitude of things, ranging, yes, from dirty diapers (his dragon senses did not help him in the smell department there) to the long periods of sleeplessness and none of them were fun. The ones that were taking the brunt of that, of course, were him and Lucy, but it wasn't like his daughter Navi or best bud Happy were doing so hot either.

Or at all. If you asked Navi, it would be at all. The babies, as her friend Haven (who honestly hadn't been old enough to even remember her sister being inducted into her own life) had warned her they would be.

"No," Locke, her other friend, was always quick to say. "Haven's just trying to scare you."

"I am not," the oldest of the two Dreyar girls would always say before, more than likely, sticking her tongue out at him. "What do you know, Locke? You don't have a brother or a sister. And having two of them? It's gonna be bad, Navi. Real bad. Just wait."

And she did. Wait, that is. She waited months. Then, much to her surprise, it was literally just as bad as Haven had always warned her.

For one thing, the babies cried. Constantly. Which, her mother had told her previously before, that they would. A lot. And with there being two of them, it would be twice as bad. So she was expecting that. Honest, she was.

But the completely being ignored by both her parents? Not so much.

Both Lucy and Natsu, of course, would be quick to say that that wasn't the case. No way was it. Natsu spent all the time he could with Navi. Him, her, and Happy had, like, the closest relationship ever. They went out on jobs together, they ate together, they trained together, they played together; she basically did all the things Lucy was too busy to do anymore. It was great!

Though even he would have to admit that his free time had been cut rather short recently, given the fact that the twins were taking up so much of it. They were just so needy. Had Navi been that needy? He didn't remember her being that needy. But man, those little babies constantly needed something. A diaper change, a feeding, to be held, to be held a different way, to not be dropped, seriously, Natsu if you drop one Lucy will kill you.

Gah!

It was all too much for him to handle.

But he was trying. Really, really hard. He'd gone through balancing Navi and Happy when she was first born and, well, now he was just trying to balance the two of them together against the two twins. That was all. He'd get better at it.

To Navi though, it couldn't come fast enough. By the third week of having the babies around, she was ready to send them somewhere, anywhere. Just away from the house. And the forth week wasn't any better. Or the fifth.

Not that she was being, like, a baby about it. She wasn't a kid. Nine at that point, she understood very well that her parents were going through a lot and that they loved her and all that stupid stuff. She was just having trouble getting over the fact that  _no one seemed to remember that she existed anymore_.

Other than Happy. From her point of view, anyways. And the cat probably only remembered because he was feeling much the same way.

"You just gotta get used to them, Navi," he told her frequently. Happy and her spent a lot of time together. Considering they shared a room and a bed (they had since forever), it was hard not to. He was pretty much her best friend.

Unless Haven decided that they were best friends. Because then she had no choice other than to say Haven. Yeah, it was just safe to say Haven first and then Happy, but really, just Happy.

They just understood one another, her and Happy. They both liked fish (though he did a tad bit more than her), they both liked playing with Natsu, and they both loved to sleep. They could practically spend all day with one another and never be bored.

It was pretty great.

But it wasn't enough.

She complained about it frequently and, eventually, Happy joined in.

"It was the same way when you were born," he told her once. "Natsu and Lucy just all forgot about me and it wasn't fair. But then you stopped needing so much attention and I got to like you better and bam! Things were all fixed."

"I was not," she told him with a frown, "as bad as them."

"They're just babies, Navi. They can't help it." That, was Happy's rational side. It never was one to stick around for long. "Although, they are really loud. And smelly. And it's not like you or I were the ones that wanted them!"

"We didn't."

"So why are we suffering for them?"

"Yeah."

"We should have had a say! And it's totally their fault that we had to move again."

"Right."

"And it's not fair that Natsu and Lucy only spend time with them. What? Are we just supposed to entertain ourselves now? Is that it? Just because there's some babies around, that need attention to?"

Navi nodded.

See? Happy got it.

Err, right then he did. He was rather easy to win over. A day or so later, as Navi was out playing with her friends and he was left at the apartment with Natsu and Lucy, the Exceed started to feel a little differently.

It was really hard work, having twins. If one started up, it usually set off the other, even if nothing was wrong with that one. And they never seemed to stay down for long. Lucy and Natsu were both up most of the time. And money was tight. Real tight. Natsu was going to have to go out on a job soon. It was stressful times. And he was being rude, only looking out for himself. Self-centered. He didn't want to be that. No way.

"You what, Hap?" Natsu yawned when he voiced that to him and Lucy. They were both in the living room, her resting up against his shoulder and not seeming to be listening much either. "Say it again."

"Me and Navi were feeling underappreciated and stuff because you guys don't pay attention to us anymore and were, kinda, well, lamenting about how much you both suck-"

"I'm somewhat offended," Lucy mumbled, "but also impressed with lamented. So go on."

"I'm confused on both accounts."

"We know, Natsu. Continue, Happy."

"Well," he said, looking at the ground then as he stood before the couch, kicking at the ground. "I was just feeling bad. That's all. And I wanted to tell you guys sorry. You really do a lot and it's not right of us to think otherwise."

"It's okay, little buddy," Natsu told him with a grin as Lucy just rolled her eyes. "Everyone feels left out sometimes."

"I'm already over it," he assured them though Lucy had a feeling he'd get back around to it eventually. Feeling better though, he rushed over to them, climbing right up on the couch. "Because I'm pretty much an adult and am able to rationalize these things."

Lucy blinked. Then she frowned down at him. "You're an adult?"

"Thank you for agreeing."

Natsu just frowned as something dawned on him.

"Hey," he complained, glaring over at Happy then. "Navi said that I suck?"

"Well, she didn't say you  _sucked_ ," Happy said with a grin. "But she did say that you don't pay attention to her anymore and that she doesn't like it."

"I pay plenty of attention to her. Plenty!"

"We have been busy with the babies," Lucy said then. "And Natsu, keep your voice down. Please."

"I d a lotta things with Navi," he growled. "Why would she say otherwise?"

"I just told you. And I'm serious about your voice. If you wake them, you're dealing with them."

"That sounds fair," Happy agreed.

"Yeah, until you're the one that wakes them," Natsu grumbled. "But really, I haven't been ignoring Navi. Have I? Where is she?"

"With her friends," Lucy reminded. "And it's just been hard adjusting, Natsu. She has been the only child for years. Give it awhile."

"I don't wanna give it awhile. I don't want her to think that I suck even for one more day."

"Did you just completely miss the part about her not really thinking that or what?"

"I heard what I heard, Luce, and now I can't un-hear it, can I?"

"If it makes you feel better, Lucy," Happy offered, "she doesn't want to spend anymore time with you than she does now."

"Stop being annoying," she told him with a frown. "You always like to cause problems, don't you? This is going to bother Natsu all day."

"Until he forgets, at least."

"Well, that's why I only gave it a day."

Forget?  _Forget?_  That Navi, the person he was closest to, like, ever was feeling left out? No way! He was gonna fix that and quick.

After a nap.

But that was only because she was out anyways.

When Navi got home though, both the babies were crying and she was tired and Lucy needed help with the babies and, well, somehow he let the chance slip through his fingers.

"Natsu, don't stress about it," Lucy told him as they settled into bed that night. "Things will work themselves out. You heard it from Happy. Think of the source."

"Yeah, but-"

"As soon as I think you're capable of caring for both of them at once-"

"I am now, thank you."

"-I'll take Navi out and me and her will-"

"Uh, Luce? I'm not concerned with  _you_  and Navi. At all."

"That's a real nice thing to say."

"I'm concerned for me," he told her. "Navi's always, like, loved me."

"She still does love you."

"Yeah, but now she might think that I like the new babies more or that I don't have time for her or- I should just go settle this now and-"

"No," Lucy groaned, reaching over to grab his arm when he tried to get out of bed. "Right now she's asleep and so are the twins. Not to mention Happy. And if you wake up any combination of those four, I'm going to kill you. Choose carefully, Natsu."

Groaning, he fell back on the bed. "Fine. But I won't be able to sleep because of this."

"I'm sure."

He was, of course, but only after a long hard ten minutes in which he had trouble drifting off.

So there.

It was the sound of one of the babies that awoke him, not soon after, as the little boy let out a few whines. And since Lucy seemingly slept through it (he was pretty sure she was faking, but he pulled that one enough that he owed her one…thousand), he got up to tend to him before he awoke his brother.

In the boys' tiny nursery, he immediately went over to the crib of the crying baby, knowing just from the lack of the unpleasant scent that, luckily, it wasn't a diaper situation. And Lucy had fed them before they went to bed, which hadn't been that long ago, so it wasn't that either.

"What's wrong with you then?" he mumbled as he cradled the baby in his arms. "Huh?"

He was busy trying to figure that out when, behind him, he heard another door open and close. At first he was concerned that it was Lucy and she had been awakened (or given up on him comforting the baby), but then he realized that it had come from across the hall, which was Happy and Navi's room.

"The baby wake you up, Nav?" he asked as he glancing at the doorway. She had been walking passed the room, to head to the bathroom, but stopped at the sound of his voice. When she nodded, he said, "Yeah. Me too. Now that we're both up though-"

"I'm going back to sleep."

"Yeah, I know. So am I. But before you do- Hey, Navi. Where you going?"

"Bathroom."

"Well, hurry alright?" Then he sighed and looked down at the baby in his arms. "And you hurry and go back to sleep too. Something's come up. Or woken up, I guess."

He lucked out with getting the little boy to calm down again before his sister finished up in the bathroom. Getting the baby all settled again, Natsu took a moment to check on the other baby before rushing from the room to catch Navi in the hall.

"I'm going to bed though," she complained as he just took her by the arm and led her into the living room.

"Me too. After I eat."

"Eat?" Well, with food on the horizon, maybe she could stay up a little longer. "Eat what?"

"Ice cream. I think we have some in the freezer. C'mon."

With an incentive…

"Shouldn't we wake up Happy?"

"And what? Give him some of our loot? No way." Natsu was quick to get the carton out and, bypassing the bowls, took it along with some spoons back to the living room. "This is all ours, Navi."

"Dad," she complained when they got to the living room as, upon opening the carton, they found it all melted. "Your stupid hands were too hot!"

"Oops."

Navi just groaned, staring down at it. "Now's it's dripping everywhere."

"Sorry."

"It's no good now."

"Then…I guess we better eat it like soup before we make too big a mess, huh?"

He even smiled at her, but Navi just sat there on the couch, staring at him. With a sigh, he stood.

"Or," he grumbled, "I can go put it back in the freezer and hopes that it freezes back. I guess. Sorry, Navi. I'll find us something else to eat, huh?"

"At the middle of the night? When you should both be asleep?"

And, suddenly, the light to the living room was flipped on and they were both welcomed to the sight of an annoyed Lucy and bleary eyed Happy.

"Happy," Natsu complained as he came rushing back out there. "You told on us?"

"No," he complained as he flew over to the couch to sit with Navi. "I just woke up when I heard Lucy get up. What's there to tell on? Were you really eating without me?"

"W-Well-"

"How could you, Natsu?"

"Things happened, little buddy, and-"

"Would you all be quiet?" Lucy complained as she came further into the room too. "And go to bed. All three of you. It's late."

"I was," Navi told her. "Honest."

"I just kept her up, Luce, so that we could talk," Natsu said, coming over to the couch then to take his seat as well. When he reached over Navi though to pat the cat on the head, the Exceed complained.

"Your hands are sticky!"

"I did just melt a thing of ice cream after all."

"What?" Lucy groaned. "Did you make a mess?'

"Luce, when don't I make a mess?"

"Natsu-"

"Go back to bed," he told her as Navi frowned at him, clearly not liking that, not only had he ruined their ice cream, but was also upsetting her mother. "We'll clean it up, Lucy. Won't we guys?"

"I was going to bed."

"Considering I wasn't even invited to eat it-"

"Won't we, guys?" he repeated, giving each of them a look. "Eh?"

"I guess," Navi sighed.

"If we have to," Happy gave in.

"See, Luce? You never put enough faith in us."

Still, she just came to sit down on the couch too. "And I still don't. I'll watch as you clean it up, Natsu."

"And Happy and Navi."

"No. They didn't melt it all over the place, now did they?"

"That's not fair! Guys-"

"Mom's right."

"You know me and Lucy always agree."

Nav- Hap- Arg!" Natsu growled as he had to head off and get a washcloth. "Traitors."

"Every time," Happy agreed as he moved to sit in Lucy's lap and let her stroke at his ears. "Just like you didn't invite me to eat ice cream-"

"It was a me and Navi thing!"

"And now it's a you cleaning up all alone thing!"

"As if you would have helped anyways!"

"Now we'll never know, will we, Natsu?"

"Stop," Lucy told them both with a sigh, "yelling."

Navi just leaned against the woman's arm. "You're gonna wake up the babies."

"Thank you, Navi. Honestly, how is she the only one out of the three of you that understands that?"

"Same way she's the only one out of the three of us that understands anything," Natsu grumbled as he went to work, cleaning up. "Always."

Lucy, still rather tired, just glancing down at Navi as she reached a hand up to gently stroking the girl's hair. "Hey, Navi?"

"What?"

Still stroking her hair, the woman said, "I heard that you think-"

"That we suck." Natsu couldn't help it. That was still bothering him. "Which, if Lucy's grounded you or something, I get. She would suck then."

"Natsu-"

"But I wouldn't ever do anything like that," he said, glancing over at her from where he was wiping at the floor with a rag. "Because I love you."

"I love her too. What kind of argument is that?"

"A lot," the slayer went on. "And remember before? A couple months ago? How we talked about how even if things change, it's for the better?"

"If you were impressed with lamenting," Happy told Lucy, who was glaring over at her husband, "then you must be astounded with his memory tonight."

"Yeah," Navi said slowly. "But I didn't say that you-"

"Well, it all is! And I know that you don't get it yet, how could you? Because all the boys do is cry and poop and… Well, it'll just get a lot better, okay? And I know I'm busy, but that's just 'cause Lucy and I have so much to do with them right now. The older they get, the less it'll be like this. I promise. And if you feel like I'm ignoring you, trust me, I don't mean to. I never would. We're, like, so close. And I wouldn't screw that up. You know that."

Instead of being impressed with that, Navi just glared at Happy.

"What did you tell him?"

"Nothing!"

"Happy-"

"I was just coming clean about myself," the Exceed said with his arms crossed. "If your name came up, I'm sorry."

"Oh brother," Lucy complained as Natsu continued to stare at their daughter with pleading eyes while she just glared at Happy who, at the moment, refused to look at any of them. "The three of you are too much, you know that?"

"I'm just trying to-"

"He shouldn't have told you-"

"I'm sorry, Navi, but sometimes I get to talking and, well-"

"Alright." Lucy stood then, setting Happy back down on the couch next to Navi while she was at it. "Do you guys want me to fix this all now? Or would you rather keep arguing?"

That got them all to snicker. Even Navi.

"Sure, Luce," Natsu told her through his laughter. "You fix it."

"Give it a whirl," Happy snickered.

"I believe in you," Navi told her, though her own giggles gave that away.

Still, the celestial mage only gave them each a stare in turn before starting.

"For starters, Happy," she began. "You shouldn't have told us something that Navi told you in confidence. That wasn't right and you know it. When she tells you things, she tells them to you because she trusts you. So apologize."

"Sorry," he grumbled to which Navi only patted him on the head.

"And Navi, I know that the new babies are a lot to take in. Trust me, I get it. But we're trying," she said, gesturing to Natsu, who nodded his head. "Very hard. We don't get everything right, we know that. But that doesn't mean that we don't love you or something silly like that. We're just…tired, sweetie. That's all. You know that. It hasn't all been fun, I know, but just wait. The older they get, it will be. I promise. We love you, okay?"

Slowly, she nodded. "I love you too."

Then, sighing, Lucy looked to her husband. "And Natsu?"

"Yeah?"

"Stop waking us up in the middle of the night. Honestly. And we've gone over before that you're not supposed to be the one to hold the ice cream."

"I got excited. Me and Navi were going to bond."

"So excited you forgot me?" Happy complained.

"Oh. Right." Sighing, Lucy said, "Natsu, apologize to Happy. You know that he feels left out when you do things without him."

"Sorry, little buddy," he said, giving in easily. "You know I usually wouldn't eat with out you. And look; I melted the ice cream. It would have just gotten your hopes up for nothing."

"That's a good point." Uncrossing his arms then, Happy said, "I forgive you, Natsu."

"Thanks, Hap. Now, would you mind coming and helping me-"

"Navi needs to go to bed," the Exceed said then as he took to the air once more to fly off. "And I have to go with her. It's the only way she sleeps. Come on, Navi."

"Bye, Dad. Goodnight, Mom."

Natsu just growled after them though as Lucy giggled. Once it was just the two of them in the living room, she came over to him.

"You want me to help you?"

"Nah," he grumbled as she stared down at him. With a frown, Natsu got back to wiping up the dripped trail of ice cream. "I got it. You can go back to bed. Sorry I woke you up, Luce."

With a giggle, she reached down to pat him on the head. "'kay. Although this does make me reconsider marrying you."

"Huh?"

"Melting ice cream? I mean, sheesh. Maybe I should have gone after Gray-"

"Don't joke about that," he grumbled. "That sneaky bastard. If he heard you, he'd hold it against me."

"I'm just kidding." She gave his head one last pat and, when he looked up at her, she actually smiled down at him. "Hurry to bed though, alright?"

When he nodded, she turned to go off, leaving him alone again. So maybe he hadn't gotten any ice cream out of it, but at least Navi was feeling better. He hoped. He figured he'd take her out on his next job and things would be alright again. Navi was, like, one of the most important things in his life. He didn't want her feeling left out.

It took a bit to get all the ice cream up (how had he managed to get it everywhere), but eventually he was able to head off to bed. Not before checking in on Happy and Navi, who, thankfully, were both asleep. He just went to go pat each of them on the head before going to peek in at the twins and, well, both were still passed out. Great.

Now he could get that way too.

"What took you so long?" Lucy mumbled as he got into bed. "Natsu?"

"I'm a slow clear."

"I buy it."

He just grinned at her though. "Now I can sleep. For real this time."

"Mmmm." Her eyes were closed, but she still did reach out to rest a hand on his chest. "I- And you jinxed us. Because you always do."

He growled as, from the nursery, they both heard the sound of the babies crying. Both of them. Very clearly.

"This is why I'm going out on a job and leaving you to all this. I'm not good with diapers," he grumbled as he pushed out of bed.

"Or feedings. Or baths. Or-"

"Or anything!" he agreed as she got out of bed too. "Other than playing. Why can't we just play with them?"

"Oh, Natsu," she sighed as they left the room to go tend to the babies. "You're as bad as Navi."

If not worse.

As he tended to one of the twins though and Lucy took the other, Natsu was at least somewhat glad that Happy had informed him that, maybe, he sucked, just a little. He alerted him of a problem and bam! He took care of it. Slayer style.

"Slayer what?" Lucy giggled as he relayed this to her. The one she had needed his diaper changed. Once again, Natsu lucked out and only got stuck rocking the other one back to sleep.

"Slayer style. It's a thing."

"It's not a thing."

"It's very much so a thing, Luce, and you should just get used to it."

Shaking her head, she said, "If it were a thing-"

"Which it is."

"-then it would mean destroying everything in your path, including the problem, but also innocents that might be around. So maybe you shouldn't use your slayer style on our kids, huh?"

"Hmmm. I'll think about it."

"You do that."

Leaning down to gently nuzzle against the baby's head in his arms, he mumbled, "Maybe with you guys I'll just use daddy style. Sounds much better."

"Or just as stupid."

"You know, Luce, you could just be supportive for once."

"For once," she repeated. "Right."

"Thank you for agreeing."

"You know, you and Happy really need new jokes."

Still, he only went to gently lay the baby in his arms back down in his crib when he was peaceful again. When Lucy did the same with the other boy, he went to go toss an arm around her shoulders and bring her closer, pressing a kiss against her head.

"Natsu-"

"I'm just happy, Luce," he told her as they headed out of the room together, her glancing over her shoulder once more at the twins, to be sure they were fine. "With my life. And you."

"And me? What? Why am I separate?"

He only said, "I usually don't like when things get so different, but… This is really great. All of it."

Finally, with a slight smile, she leaned into him and let him lead her back to their room.

"Yeah," she agreed softly. "All of it."

 


End file.
